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Paying Back the Land

Solar Panels at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Jason St. Sauver / USFWS

All forms of energy development, including wind and solar, can leave a lasting mark on our public lands and wildlife.

The footprint left behind by energy development can be countered through conservation efforts and by finding appropriate locations, using smart construction and operations practices on project sites and countering unavoidable impacts with new protections for nearby lands.

Our renewable energy campaigns are helping limit the negative impacts of energy and transmission development. When impacts do occur, there are a number of tools that can be adopted to pay back our public lands.

Public lands are owned by all Americans, so how can we ensure a fair return for development on these lands? We are working to ensure revenue collected from wind and solar projects pays back local communities and the wildlife that call our public lands home.

Even after finding smart places and reducing impacts on development sites, renewable energy projects are industrial-scale facilities and some impacts will be unavoidable. To offset unavoidable impacts, agencies should require project developers to protect or restore other lands nearby.

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